so that, in and of itself was a big deal for our country. and then personally, if you coupled that, the president at that time or soon after having to help and cope and help betty ford cope with having breast cancer. one can only imagine the ordeal they had to go through as a couple but as president and fist lady. what was going on in their own home and obviously across the headlines as well. host: i read an interview with betty ford that she was opposed to the party before president ford pardonned richard nixon. guest: you know, a lot of people have very strong opinions about it. and that would not surprise me. i had not heard that, but that would not surprise me. but i think again in retrospect, however people felt, it really was designed to help get the country past this dark episode called watergate. host: one of the popular campaign buttons in 1976 was this. "i'm voting for betty's husband " was the button. and gerald ford by a margin of maybe 30 or 40 or 100 delegates beat ronald reagan to win the 1976 presidential primary. that conven